It’s the kind of win Toreros coach Bill Grier wants his team to savor, especially after 17 straight road losses over three seasons.

“I want them to enjoy it, it’s been a tough grind,” Grier said. “I have felt like this team has been very close to just getting over the hump. It’s just been some little things down the stretch of some games. They need to feel good about this.”

There was plenty to feel good about. San Diego (6-10) won its first West Coast Conference game after three losses. The Toreros shot 49 percent (22 of 45), including 56 percent (15 of 27) in the first half. They held the WCC’s top scorer Kevin Foster to 13 points on 4 of 16 shooting, including 2 of 8 from three-point range.

“We played really well tonight, especially offensively,” freshman guard Johnny Dee said. “Our focus was on defense and we had to execute on offense and I think we did that pretty well tonight.”

Dee led the way with 26 points, tying his career-high. It’s the sixth game this year that he has scored at least 22.

“Johnny can shoot,” said teammate Ken Rancifer. “Johnny can shoot.”

Said Grier, “He’s going to be a really good player in this league. He obviously can shoot the ball; he’s getting better defensively. I’m really happy with what he’s provided for us offensively but he’s also doing some other things that are helping us. Kind of like Foster, so many teams put a lot of attention on him and it kind of helps you with your interior guys.”

Foster sat out the first three minutes, 20 seconds of Thursday’s game due to an academic issue. He made a jumper on his first shot a little more than a minute later to give the Broncos (8-8, 0-3) a 9-8 lead. It was their final lead of the game. A combination of players made sure Foster didn’t get too many open looks. He missed his next eight shots, finally burying a trey with 11:32 remaining. By that time, San Diego was maintaining a double-digit lead.

Rancifer finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Grier said the junior from the Bay Area got the Toreros going with his play and his energy.

Grier made a lineup change, starting Dennis Kramer at forward after Darian Norris got the start in the first three WCC games. Kramer finished with seven points and six rebounds.

Next up is Monday’s home game against BYU, which beat San Diego in the WCC opener in Provo, 88-52.

“BYU’s really good,” he said. “They throttled us up in Provo. We’ll take tomorrow off and get back to work on Saturday. I don’t want them to think about BYU right now.”